The gallery was the very picture of elegance with its pure white walls and plush ivory carpet. The light fixtures, subdued in the corners of the room and bright over the paintings they were highlighting, were all silver filigree. The plaques under the paintings were silver and proclaimed the names of the paintings in flowing script.
People of all shapes, sizes and modes of dress, all obviously wealthy, milled around amongst the paintings, talking in low tones like they were in a museum and sipping champagne from fluted crystal glasses. Wait staff, dressed in silver and black, walked around with trays of more champagne glasses. They offered them to the patrons with polite murmurs.
Cryslys hummed as she checked the positions of her paintings on the gallery walls. She was feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness as this was her first real art showing.
“This exhibit is absolutely fabulous!” her friend, Susan, gushed as she swept up to Cryslys, her blue eyes sparkling. “It’s sure to be a success!”
Cryslys smiled at Susan, secretly envying her friend her poise, sophistication and perfectly styled blonde hair.
‘If I sell some then, it’ll be a success,” Cryslys told her with a wry smile.
She flicked a stray hair out of her face, and Susan patted her on the back before she breezily moved on, chatting with the people she met as she moved about. Cryslys watched her go for a moment, and then, she turned back to the painting she had been fixing before her friend had shown up. A couple stood close by, admiring another of her paintings.
“This one is lovely, absolutely lovely!” the elegantly dressed woman gushed to her male companion, a well manicured and beringed hand on his sleeve. “The landscape is just so realistic!”
“I agree, Luv. It’s almost as if you could step into the painting and be right there,” he companion agreed, nodding. “Like those paintings in Mary Poppins.”
The couple laughed at this, and Cryslys hid a smile, pleased someone liked her work despite the fanciful comparison.
“I must have this painting, Gregory. It’d be smashing in the salon at our summer home,” the woman insisted, her eyes never leaving the painting.
“Very well, Liana, let’s talk to the gallery owner about buying it and then, we’ll view the others. Perhaps, we’ll see another painting that moves you as much as this one so obviously has,” Gregory replied, giving her a warm smile.
Cryslys watched the couple walk away and then, she took a quick peek at the painting the woman wanted so much. It was one she’d done of countryside in spring, and she was pleased it was being sold. It had been one of her favorites to work on.
By the end of the evening’s showing, all but ten of her twenty-nine pieces had been sold. Susan bade farewell to the last of the patrons and turned to Cryslys who was lingering by one of the remaining paintings. She smiled at the young artist who arched a brow at her as she joined her. Susan stroked the edge of the painting in front of them.
“Don’t worry about these. We’ll leave them up for a few more days, for those who couldn’t get by tonight and then, we’ll talk a bout closing the exhibit.” she told Cryslys. “You did wonderfully well for your opening day.”
“Really?” Cryslys asked, trailing after Susan as they headed back to her office.
“Oh yes! I would never kid about something like that!” Susan assured her, sitting down at her desk. “You’re very talented, you know, and now, thanks to me, others know it too.”
Susan wrote out a check and tearing it off the pad with a flourish, she handed it to Cryslys with a triumphant smile.
“There you are Dearest, your first check,” she said. “Minus my gallery’s fees of course.”
Cryslys beamed with pleasure when she saw the huge sum written on the check.
“Wow!” she breathed, clutching the paper to her. “Thank you so much!”
“No, thank you! It was your hard work that’s got us this far,” Susan said. “Your work is so sublime I absolutely adore being around it! Now, when you’re ready to have another show, call me first. I’ll move heaven and earth, and more if I have to; to make sure you have space in my gallery.”
“Don’t worry, I will,” Cryslys promised her friend, smiling shyly. “I think I’ll go home and celebrate now.”
Chapter 2
Dieing to celebrate, the young woman stopped along the way home to buy a bottle of expensive champagne and a single red rose for her live in boyfriend. Humming a happy tune, she let herself into her cozy little one-bedroom apartment. It wasn’t a dump, but it wasn’t as nice as she wanted it to be either. She actually dreamed of living in a house, not a crummy apartment. Hearing music, she grinned. It meant her boyfriend was home and awake, maybe even waiting for her.
“Joshua!” she called out, barely able to keep the excitement out of her voice. “I’m home!”
She dumped her purse on the coffee table and, armed with the champagne and rose, she headed for her bedroom in the back part of the apartment. She was eager to share the evening’s success with her future husband, Joshua Robere.
“Joshua, I did it!” she crowed as she flung open the bedroom door. “I was a hit tonight!”
She froze in shock, eyes widening, at the scene before her. Two naked women flanked an equally naked Joshua. Joshua had a length of rubber tubing wrapped around his bicep and was holding a hypodermic needle to the crook in his arm where there was a knot of veins. Cryslys was caught totally unaware, and she was both revolted and appalled by what she was seeing. Joshua stared back at her with guilty eyes.
“Uh, Crys,” he said, slowing putting the syringe down. “How’d it go tonight, babe?”
“Hurry up Joshy, me next remember?” the bimbo on Joshua’s left purred, pouting her crimson lips and batting her long lashes as she rubbed herself against him.
Cryslys let her disgust show clearly on her face.
“You lied to me, “she accused her man, anger making her voice tight. “You told me you couldn’t come to my showing tonight because you had to work late. How could you do this to me?!”
She screamed the last at him and with a sob, she threw the rose on the floor and the champagne at the closest wall before fleeing the room and the empty stares of the drugged out whores.
“Crys, wait!” Joshua called out after her, sounding half hearted.
Cryslys ignored him, snatching up her purse and slamming the front door on her way out. Getting in her car, she drove aimlessly around Chicago for several hours, crying. She kept wracking her brain for a reason why her relationship with Joshua, once strong and loving, had gone so horribly wrong. She knew there was no way she was going to marry him now. Not after what she’d just seen.
She was stopped at a red light when she reached for her purse and spotted something on the floorboards of the passenger side. Checking the light to make sure it was still red, she leaned over and after a couple of tries, she finally managed to grab the piece of paper before the traffic light turned green. Moving again, Cryslys held the paper against the steering wheel while she drove.
Looking it over as best she could while she drove, she found the paper to be an advertisement from a travel agency, a brochure. It offered a trip to a place in Texas called Galveston Island. The ad proclaimed the place to be a friendly little island connected to the Texas mainland by a four lane causeway and a small fleet of ferries. It went on to describe how the island held the national record for the longest continuous sidewalk. The sidewalk was the top part of a seawall simply known to locals as The Wall. It also had lots of historical buildings that had managed to survive a massive hurricane in 1900 that had devastated the rest of the island and a great deal of the mainland.
Cryslys thought the place sounded quaint and possibly, the perfect spot to forget Joshua and his wrongdoings. She decided to spend the night at a hotel and get up early the next morning to call her travel agent friend. She only hoped he could give her as good a deal as the one in the ad she was looking at.
“Greg, I want to go to Galveston Texas,” she told her friend the next morning when he answered the phone, and she proceeded to tell him all about the brochure she’d found in her car.
Greg Tremaine was a fantastic travel agent who’d found her many wonderful trips that fit her small budget in the past, and he’d become a good friend of hers along the way. She trusted him to do right by her when it came to getting a good deal on a trip.
“Going off to find fresh inspiration for those smashing paintings of yours?” he asked when she was done.
Cryslys could hear him typing away on his work computer.
“You could say that,” she hedged, not really ready to talk about Joshua just yet.
“Will Joshua be coming along?” he asked, sounding distracted as he continued to type.
Cryslys knew this was a standard question, but it still stung.
“No, he has to work,” she lied.
“Let me see what I can come up with for what sounds like paradise then,” he told her. “How’d your showing go last night? I would’ve come, but Melanie still has the measles.”
Melanie was Greg’s youngest daughter and a perfect angel from the way he talked about her. Cryslys had met her and adored her too.
“I understand completely, Greg, and I hope she feels better soon,” she said. “My showing had a great opening night according to Susan. She said she’d keep all my work up for several more days, to generate more interest so, you’’ have plenty of chances to see what’s up.”
“You can count on that,” Greg told her. “Shall I call you at home when I have the package ready?”
“That’ll be fine, just please, hurry,” Cryslys bade him, trying not to sound desperate. “I’ve got the itch pretty bad.”
“It’s as good as done sweetheart, “he assured her, chuckling at what he thought to be eagerness, and he rang off.
A quick phone call assured her Joshua was really at work so, Cryslys rushed home, calling a locksmith along the way to come change the locks on her front door. She planned to put in reinforced locks and latches on all her windows as well. She hurried to get Susan’s check cashed and called an alarm company while she was in line at the bank. She might only be renting the apartment, but she wanted to make sure her things were safe while she was gone. Everything she owned meant something to her, and she wanted them protected, just in case.
As the locks and alarm system were being installed, Cryslys finished her own little job and packed all of Joshua’s things in the boxes she’d remembered to pick up on her way home from the bank. She filled all of his suitcases too; the man was a clothes horse. She put the suitcases and all of the boxes out on the front porch and when the workmen were done, she locked the door behind them. She called Susan next to see how her paintings were doing, not expecting much.
“Oh Darling, I was just about to call you!” Susan exclaimed, sounding very excited. “You’ll never guess what happened just now!”
“Um…what?” the young woman asked, chewing her bottom lip nervously.
“Only the most fantabulous miracle ever!” Susan gushed. “An interior decorating firm, very prestigious I might add, just bought all of your remaining paintings for a mansion they’re working on! Isn’t that the best news ever?!”
Cryslys was floored.
“That’s….. That’s incredible!” she breathed.
“A one in a million happening doll. I’ll have your check ready for you this evening, okay?” her friend said.
“That’ll be fine.” Cryslys said, too stunned to think.
“Thank you so much again!” Susan said, sounding cheery. “See you tonight!”
Ringing off, Cryslys happily packed her own bags for an extended stay down south in Galveston Texas. She was determined not to think of men while she was there. She’d just focus on her art and nothing else would matter. Finished packing, she took a shower and was nearly done getting dressed when the phone rang. Towel drying her hair along the way, she went to answer it.
“Hello?” she said, a bit worried it was Joshua telling her he was coming home early.
“Cryslys honey, I’ve got everything arranged for you, and you just have to say the word to be on the next flight out to Galveston first thing in the morning. “ Greg announced to her without preamble, sounding very pleased with himself.
“Could you possibly get me on a flight tonight?” she asked, crossing her fingers.
“There’s one leaving tonight around six from Midway, but it’s going to cost you,” he warned. “After that, it’s the red eye until eight in the morning. “
“The one at six will be fine, I got a good check from Susan,” Cryslys was relieved she’d be gone before Joshua got off work.
She didn’t want to deal with the drama that would ensue when he saw his things out on the porch and found out his key didn’t fit in the lock any more either. She made a note to call the landlord to let them know what was going on too. Her name was the only one on the lease thankfully.
“I’ll have the ticket waiting for you at the reservation desk as usual. Do you want a round trip?” Greg asked her, and she could hear him typing away again.
“Not this time. I’m not sure how long I’ll be down there, “Cryslys told him.
“Great. I’m making reservations for you at the Hotel Galvez. Other than the San Luis and the Victorian hotels, this one is the best for your price range. The Flagship is a close second according to my contacts, but what the hey, enjoy yourself, “he told her. “If you feel the need, the west end of the island has a bunch of rental beach houses available.”
“I’ll take the hotel and think about the rest. Will you arrange a rental car for me like usual too?” she asked him.
“Sure thing. You’re going to need one if you decide to rent a house or go sightseeing. This place is nothing like Chicago. They don’t even have an airport so, you’re going to have to drive down from Houston Texas anyway, “Greg told her. “Any new preferences in cars?”
“Just the usual, something nice and mid sized with a decent sized trunk, if possible. “ Cryslys told him. “How much is this going to cost me?”
Greg told her, and they made their usual payment arrangements.
“I’ll see you when you get back, “he told her before ringing off. “You can tell me all about it then.”
Cryslys put in a quick call to her landlord and then, she packed her things into her own small car. She set the new alarm system and locked the apartment door behind her after one last check of all the window latches. She drove to Susan’s gallery to pick up her final check, and she quickly cashed it, happy she’d never given Joshua access to her bank account. She banked most of the incredible sum she’d earned and took the rest for her trip.
Her personal business done, the young woman treated herself to a nice restaurant meal at a bistro Joshua knew nothing about and then, she headed over to the airport. She wanted to be early for all the pre-boarding security procedures. She didn’t want to miss her flight for any reason. She took care of her car and double checked the reservation for the rental in Texas before she collected her ticket. She checked her luggage and went through all the security checkpoints. Once she was cleared, her flight was called, and she eagerly boarded. Once in flight, she only had to change planes once before she landed in Houston Texas early the next morning.
Chapter 3
After deplaning, she collected all of her luggage and found the car rental desk.
“I have a reservation for a mid sized car,” Cryslys told the clerk seated there.
“Name, please,” the older woman said, fingers poised over the keyboard like claws.
“Cryslys St. George,” Cryslys said, “The reservation was made yesterday by the Obsidian Travel Agency in Chicago.”
The woman’s fingers flew rapidly over the keyboard for a moment and then, she nodded, smiling.
“Here you are. We have a sapphire blue Ford Taurus reserved for you,” she said. “I just need to see your identification and have you signed some papers, please.”
A short time later, Cryslys was behind the wheel of her rental car and armed with a map, she headed over to the hotel by the airport so she could get a few hours sleep before driving to Galveston. She felt so wore out and depressed she thought it best if she got some sleep before continuing on. She checked into the hotel and after a quick shower, she fell asleep in the queen sized bed.
It was close to noon when Cryslys grabbed a bite to eat in the hotel’s restaurant and then headed down to Galveston. It was a gorgeous day with the sun shining in a mostly cloudless sky, and a light cooling breeze blew. Cryslys left the windows down on the car and took a deep breath of the fresh gulf breeze as she drove over the causeway’s bridge.
It brought back memories of childhood vacations to the seashore, and she felt herself beginning to relax. She noticed a housing division called Tiki Island off to her right and a place called Dimitri’s off to her left. Dimitri’s was a little township boasting two businesses within its limits and little else. Both of them were adult entertainment oriented. Cryslys wrinkled her nose at them as she passed by.
She did decide checking out Tiki Island at a later date would be nice. Entering Galveston proper, she spotted an Exxon station and after a glance at her fuel indicator, she decided to fuel up and ask for directions at the same time. She took the Sixty First Street exit and pulled into the station. She filled up and headed inside to pay and ask for directions.
The clerk smiled at her as she stepped up to the counter.
“I had gas on Pump 3, “Cryslys told the young man.
“That’ll be thirty-six eighty, please,” he said, “You must be visiting. You don’t sound like you’re from around here.”
“Just got here actually,” she said, smiling. “Are you familiar with the area?”
The clerk chuckled as he took her money and printed her out a receipt.
“The island isn’t that big,” he told her. “Where you visiting from?”
“Chicago,” she told him, not liking his flirting. “How do I get to the Seawall? I think that’s what it’s called.”
“Any place in particular you getting to?” he asked, leaning against the counter now.
Frowning, Cryslys pulled out the paper she’d written down the name of the hotel Greg had made her reservation at, and she handed it to him. He looked it over and nodded.
“That’s a good place to stay, and it’s right on the Wall. Just take Sixty First Street all the way up until you see water,” he told her, handing her the paper back. “Then, you want to turn left. You’ll get there in no time.”
“I’d stay at the Hotel Galvez myself if I was visiting,” he told her, smiling.
“Thanks, “Cryslys told him, folding the paper back up and putting it away.
She left the station and was on her way again in minutes. She got back on the right road, and she enjoyed the gorgeous view as she drove. The day was mild for December, and she was surprised to see all the people one the sidewalk with their dogs, friends, skateboards and bicycles. Most of them were dressed for the summer too. She found the Seawall and stared at the sun shining on the water in front of her before the light changed at the intersection. She turned left, following the clerk’s directions, and she started looking for the Hotel Galvez, keeping an eye on the traffic, which was light, while she drove.
In no time, she found the Hotel Galvez. It was a fairly large, impressive building, and she parked in the parking lot behind the hotel. Entering through the rear door, she climbed up five steps and walked through a short hallway to the reservation desk.
“I have a reservation for a room,” she told the lovely young receptionist behind the desk.
“Name please,” the young woman asked her, hands over her keyboard.
“Cryslys St. George,” Cryslys told her. “I’d like to have the room for two weeks, if possible, as well.”
“We can do that for you,” the woman said, typing on the computer and printing out several papers. She also slid a book over to Cryslys. “Sign in here please.”
Cryslys signed the quaint looking leather bound register with a smile, paid for her room and got help getting her baggage up to her room.
“If you’re interested, the annual celebration of Dickens on the Strand is starting tomorrow,” the hotel employee helping her told her as he put several of her suitcases on her bed. Seeing as how Charles Dickens was one of her favorite authors, Cryslys was intrigued by this news.
“What is Dickens on the Strand?” she asked.
“Over on Strand Street and Mechanic as well, the streets are blocked off, and the people dress up like people from the Victorian era of England that Charles Dickens lived in and wrote about. We do this every year at this time,” the young man said. “There are plays based on the books that are performed as well as musical performances by bell ringers and carolers. They also have elephant rides, all kinds of food and drink stalls, and lots of stuff to buy for gifts for Christmas.”
Cryslys decided right then she’d grab her camera and go check out the festivities the following day. She just might get some good shots while she was there enjoying herself.
“Thanks for your help,” she said, smiling at the man.
“It was my pleasure,” he said, and he left her alone.
Cryslys unpacked her things and carefully checked her camera equipment before ordering room service. She watched some television and relaxed for the rest of the day.
